System and method for providing enhanced persistent communications

ABSTRACT

A system and method for providing persistent communications between users is disclosed whereby users can communicate in a real time fashion and/or in an offline or asynchronous manner within a persistent communications session without having to initiate a new session each time a user logs off or onto the communications session.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of, claims priority to, andincorporates by reference herein in its entirety, U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/096,978, filed 13 Mar. 2002 now U.S. Pat. No.7,188,140.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to interactive communications, and moreparticularly, to a method for providing enhanced persistentcommunications.

One of the more beneficial aspects of the Internet, aside from the vastarray of information and content sources it provides, is the varied andnewfound ways people can now communicate and stay in touch with oneanother. Users all around the world, or even just around the corner, maynow communicate in a relatively low cost and efficient manner via amyriad of Internet facilities including electronic mail, chat rooms,message boards, instant messaging and video tele-conferencing.

These methods of communication offer distinct advantages over standardcommunicative methods such as paper based mail and conventionaltelephone calls. For example, facilities like electronic mail aretypically considerable faster and cheaper than these conventionalmethods of communication. Rapidly escalating in popularity is instantmessaging which offers more “interactive-type” of communication sincethe participants in an instant messaging conversation are onlinesimultaneously.

Internet Relay Chat (IRC) or, simply “chat” provides informalcommunications among users of data network facilities. Chat allows twoor more users to converse by exchanging text messages, typically througha “channel” or virtual “chat room” maintained on one or more chatservers and accessed via an on-line service or using general purposechat “client” software executing at a user terminal, workstation orpersonal computer. Only chat “participants” connected (typically througha telephone line modem) to the on-line service or other chat environmentprovided by one or more chat servers, can take part in the chat. Chatroom “conversations” are displayed as text in a chat room window on aparticipant's display screen, usually accompanied by a list of chatparticipants. The text displayed at a participant's terminal usuallyincludes a history of the conversation from the time that the viewingparticipant joined the chat room. Entering particular chat rooms istypically effected using a list or menu of currently available chatrooms. Exiting a chat room is usually as simple as closing the chatwindow. Extensions of the basic chat model of communications permit useof voice (or other audio), video and other message content.

Instant messaging (IM) allows users to be aware of the “presence” ofothers (usually friends or colleagues) and to send short messages backand forth to those who are present (i.e., logged into the IM server).This creates a communication channel that lends itself to shorter, moreintimate, less formal conversation than email. The growth rate in IM usehas been dramatic and usage is that of approaching email. When twopeople are communicating through an IM session there utterances arerecorded in sequence in the IM session window. However, when the sessionis ended the utterances disappear (although they may be archived). If amessage is sent to a “buddy” who is no longer logged into the IM server,then either the message is rejected (“<Person's name> is no longeravailable”), or saved and sent at a latter time when the other person islogged in. However, the next time the two talk to each other, a newsession window is created. Also, if the other person does not log outbut leaves for the day (from work) the message will be added to theircurrent IM session. When that person logs in (at home) the new messageswill not appear in their new IM session.

However, one significant problem with instant messaging, as compared toelectronic mail, is that no saved record of an instant messagingconversation is available once the instant messaging conversationterminates. For example, once an instant messaging window is closed, theconversations contained therein are lost. It is conceivable that someusers may take manual measures to save or archive their conversations,for example, by copy and pasting the text of their conversation into aword processor and saving the conversation in the word processor format.However, this technique and other existing techniques for saving orlogging instant messaging conversations are both cumbersome and timeconsuming. Furthermore, saving instant messaging conversations in thisprior art manner results in the user having to maintain separaterepositories for these saved instant messaging conversations whichplaces the burden on the user to both remember whether suchconversations have actually been saved and in what location they havebeen saved.

Instant messaging has an additional benefit since it effectively blursthe distinction between synchronous and asynchronous communication. AnIM message can be replied to immediately, thereby establishing a nearreal time conversation, or it can be replied to at a latter time. Theuser experience can be thought of as a private communication channel orwhiteboard between two people, in which they can chat with one another.Users tend to perceive IM as a much “lighter-weight” form ofcommunication than e-mail: It is more easily accessed, messages are moreeasily exchanged, and it lends itself to short informal communications(an original goal of email). However, email is clearly preferred forlong detailed messages and for important messages. The reason for thisis in part the persistence of email, and the mostly ephemeral characterof IMs.

Currently, closing an IM session can delete all of the messagesexchanged in the session (although many IM applications offerarchiving). However, in most IM applications, logging in from any device(PCs or PDAs, typically) will announce the availability of a subscriberand an IM session can be re-established. If the subscriber is not loggedin (i.e., unavailable) the sender will be informed that the recipient isunavailable, and the message will not be sent. In such situations, thesender can re-send the message as email or wait until the subscriber isavailable. Unlike most IM applications, however, ICQ will preserve an IMmessage until it can be sent to its recipient. When logging in, therecipient is notified of pending messages.

There is another interesting trend in personalization of communications:an increasing number of Internet users are creating personal websites,some of which detect the presence of visitors and some of which havechat rooms. Taken together, the popularity of IM, the above limitationsof current IM technology and the trend in personal websites suggest anew type of communication model in which two users (buddies) should beable to establish a permanent communication session or channel.

Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a system and method forcommunicating in a persistent environment which combines the benefits ofexisting communication methods like instant messaging and personal webpages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a system and method for providing communicationsessions in a persistent communication environment. In one embodiment,the present invention is a method for providing persistentcommunications, the method comprising providing a persistentcommunication session for one or more online communications originatingfrom at least one message sender and destined for at least one messagerecipient and providing access to the persistent communication sessionon a persistent basis, wherein the at least one message sender and theat least message recipient may independently access the session withoutthe session restarting, the session persisting in a static conditionwhen no communications are received and the session being updated on areal-time basis when communications are received and the message senderand the message recipient are online.

In another embodiment, the present invention is a method comprisingreceiving messages from a plurality of clients, enabling simultaneousreal time and off line communications between the plurality of clientsand providing a repository of the communications which is accessible ina real time and an offline manner by the plurality of clients, therepository being updated in a real time fashion upon the receipt ofmessages from the plurality of clients.

In another embodiment, the invention is a method comprising providing analways active communication session receptive to both online and offlinecommunications and administering the communication session by updatingcommunications within the session regardless of the online or offlinestatus of one or more communication participants, the communicationsession remaining in an always active configuration regardless of theonline or offline status of the communication participants.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system in accordance with the teachingsof the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a generalized system configuration in accordance withthe teachings of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary persistent communications session in accordancewith the teachings of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary communications session environment in accordancewith the teachings of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary method in accordance with the teachings of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a system and method for providing persistentmessaging communications whereby users can communicate in a real timebasis and also on an independent basis in a persistent messagingenvironment. In the present invention, communications can be exchangedin a real time manner as is customary with traditional messagingapplications but such communications can also be accomplished when oneor more of the parties to a communication are offline without beingsubjected to the ordinary constraints of traditional instant messagingapplications which require communicating parties to be both online atthe same time. Furthermore, the present invention provides for apersistent auxiliary communications environment which can accommodatefile attachments and a real-time scratch pad for communicating with oneanother.

Referring to FIG. 1, an exemplary system 10 is shown for providingcommunications in a persistent communication environment. As shown inFIG. 1, a number of messaging participants or users 20, 30 and 40 areengaged in a persistent communication session 50 as may be providedwithin a persistent communication environment 60. Persistentcommunication environment 60 may be administered in conjunction with apersistent communication session storage component 70 and a persistentcommunication manager 80. In one embodiment of the present invention,persistent communication session storage component 70 and persistentcommunication manager 80 reside within a persistent communicationsserver 100 which operates within one or more networks.

In the present invention, the network or networks may be digital oranalog such as may be provided over the Internet. Two examples ofsuitable digital networks are a packet network and a frame relaynetwork, such as the existing packet and frame relay networks nowprovided by carriers such as AT&T and may involve Internet Protocol (IP)based technologies. The digital network of the present invention wouldgenerally provide interconnection utilizing various interconnectionarchitectures including Internet Protocol (IP) based network, variousexisting systems such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN),ATM networks, the Internet, signaling networks, wireless networks, fixedwireless networks, DSL networks as well as other systems. The digitalnetwork would also provide versatile intelligent conduits that maycarry, for example, Internet Protocol (IP) telephony or multimediasignals between the customer premises over, for example, the publicswitched telephone network, Internet, or wireless communicationnetworks. Preferably, in whatever configuration, the system network willallow for transmission and receipt of incoming and outgoingcommunication signals.

In the present invention, users may communicate in the persistentcommunication session via any device which has the capability tocommunicate with persistent communications server 100. For example, anynumber of communicative devices, such as personal digital assistant(PDA) devices, wireless telephones, dedicated internet “appliances”and/or personal computers may be used to communicate with persistentcommunications server 100. For example, in one exemplary scenario, afirst user employing a personal digital assistant (PDA) device withmessaging capabilities may communicate with a second user employing awireless telephone with messaging capabilities via persistentcommunications server 100. In accordance with the teachings of thepresent invention, the first user may communicate in a real time basiswith the second users concurrently, i.e. both users are online at thesame time, and additionally either user may communicate with one anotherin the same session even though the other user may not be online at thetime. In such an example, one user may send the other user a messagewhich is posted within the persistent communication session to the otheruser, even though that user may not be online or at least active withinthe persistent communication session at the time the message is sent. Ata subsequent time, the user may see the message sent to them and mayrespond accordingly, again, regardless of whether the other user isonline or active in that persistent communication session at that time.

In the present invention, the communication devices establishcommunication links either directly or indirectly to the persistentcommunication environment 60 using any applicable communication methodor protocol such as, but not limited to, TCP/IP, RS-232, Bisync,wireless, infrared, RF, microwave, etc. which can be used to transmitcommunications based on a variety of access methods that permits eachdevice to interact with the repository in a common fashion regardless ofthe communication protocol used or the repository implementation.

A generalized abstraction of the present system is illustrated in thediagram of FIG. 2, and the following discussion is provided by way offurther background toward understanding the context of the presentinvention. In this exemplary embodiment, two users 200 and 210 engage ina persistent communications session 220 provided within a network 230.The communications session 220 operates as a persistent repositorywithin network 230 containing therein the user's messaging addresses,such as their instant messaging aliases, the user's IP addresses and anydocuments or files that may be shared between the users. Communicationsession 220 is provided in a live or persistent condition at all timeswithin network 230 such that the session 220 can be unilaterallyaccessed by one user at any one time or bilaterally by both users at thesame time, or more than two users as may be required.

An exemplary communication flow associated with the present invention isillustrated in FIG. 3, and the following discussion is provided by wayof further background toward understanding the context of the presentinvention. This diagram illustrates an exemplary operation of thepresent system and other variations of the communication flow areclearly contemplated but the following is merely illustrative of thedifferent types of communications that may exist in a persistentcommunication session in accordance with the presents invention. Asshown in FIG. 3, within a first communications portion 300, an exemplaryUSER 1 and USER 2 engage in a conversation with both users logged ontothe communications sessions at the same time. Within communicationsportion 310, only USER 2 logs off and USER 1 is logged in and a messageis received from USER 1 for USER 2. Within communications portion 320,only USER 2 is logged in and a file is received from USER 2 for USER 1.Within communications portion 330, both users are again logged in andare communicating, within the communications session. Throughout eachcommunication portion, regardless of whether any users are logged intothe session, the session remains active, as shown in communicationsportion 340. The present invention thus allows each user or subscriberto access the persistent communications session independently from oneanother but if they are both present they can chat in real time. Thus,even when the other person is not logged, messages can be posted to thepersistent communications session and viewed by the intended recipientat a latter time.

The present invention can be analogized to a private permanentwhiteboard that is accessible only by a small set of subscribers(typically two), all of whom can modify the contents of the whiteboard.When one subscriber wishes to contact another available subscriber (a“buddy”), an alert is sent to the second subscriber (as in the currentIM applications). Upon answering the alert, the instant URL is visibleto the second subscriber (it was already visible to the first subscriberwhen the alert was sent). In one exemplary implementation, a persistentcommunications session may contain one to three (3) frames as shown inFIG. 4 within persistent communications session 400. The single frameversion 410 is similar to what might be viewed through any current IMclient. However, a single frame 420 could be expanded to include theadjoining two frames, one for attachments 430 and the other for doodlingor scribbling 440.

An exemplary method associated with the present invention is illustratedin the flow diagram of FIG. 5, and the following discussion is providedby way of further background toward understanding the context of thepresent invention. This diagram illustrates the operation of the basicsystem of FIG. 1. In this embodiment, when a client or user, such asthrough a browser initiates a communication with the persistentcommunications server. After the user's communication is received, step500, the session manager determine whether the user has appropriatecredentials or authorization, step 510. If not, the session manager willreturn an error message (e.g., “Unauthorized”) to the user's browser andprompt the user for a user ID and password or otherwise terminate thecommunication session, step 520. After receiving the proper credentialsfrom the user, such as a user ID and password from the user, the sessionmanager verifies the user's credentials and determines if a sessionalready exists, step 530. If a session does not already exist, thesystem initiates a persistent communication session, provided one is notalready in progress, step 540. If a session is already in progress, theuser is then provided access to the persistent communication session,step 550.

In the present invention, when a user logs into the persistentcommunications server their buddies are all notified (just like incurrent IM services). When a user invokes a communication session orchannel, the other user (the buddy) is notified, and if new content isadded the communication channel's window appears on the buddy's desktop(just like having an IM session window appear on the desktop). Thus, theapplication would look like IM to an observer. However, the permanenceof a Buddy URL allows additional capabilities, e.g., being able toretrieve earlier messages from another location even if an earliersession is still active (messages that might otherwise be missed.Moreover, as explained below, other software tools can be added to BuddyURLs.

While the present invention has been described with reference topreferred and exemplary embodiments, it will be understood by those ofordinary skill in the art that various changes may be made andequivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departingfrom the scope of the invention. In addition, many modifications may bemade to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of theinvention without departing from the scope thereof. Therefore, it isintended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodimentdisclosed, but that the invention will include all embodiments fallingwithin the scopes of the appended claims. For example, enhancements tothe present invention such as by incorporating text to speechapplications such as those that can access webpages via phone, allowsIMs to be received from any telephone or any internet enabled appliance(PCs, PDAs, etc), and allows voice, email, and attachments to beaccessible through a IM client. Additionally, the chat space couldprovide inline sequencing of all messages, i.e., voice mail, email, andIMs organized by sender's time.

1. A method comprising: via a session manager, providing access to acommunication session on a persistent basis, said session managercommunicatively coupled to a repository, said session manager adapted toobtain and cause storage of each instant messaging alias and each clientIP address of a plurality of clients authorized to communicate via saidcommunication session, said communication session adapted for one ormore online communications originating from at least one message senderand destined for at least one message recipient, said communicationsession not comprising any voice communication, said communicationsession not comprising a text to speech application, said sessionmanager adapted to allow said at least one message sender and said atleast one message recipient to independently access said communicationsession without said communication session restarting, said sessionmanager adapted to maintain said communication session in a staticcondition when no communications are received, said session manageradapted to update said communication session on a real-time basis whencommunications are received and said at least one message sender andsaid at least one message recipient are online, said session manageradapted to continue said communication session without restarting whenno sender and no recipient are online, said session manager adapted toprovide said at least one message sender and said at least one messagerecipient with a representation of past activity of said communicationsession upon access to said communication session, wherein saidcommunication session comprises a plurality of frames, said plurality offrames comprising a message frame, an attachment frame, and a doodlingframe.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: initiating saidcommunications session.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein an alert isprovided to said at least one message recipient when a message isreceived from said at least one message sender.
 4. The method of claim1, further comprising: receiving one or more communications from said atleast one message sender.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving one or more replies from said at least one message recipient.6. The method of claim 1, wherein said plurality of frames areadjoining.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein said doodling frame isadapted to receive scribbling.
 8. The method of claim 1, whereincommunications are received in a first format and stored in a secondformat.
 9. A method comprising: via a session manager, providing accessto a communication session on a persistent basis, said communicationssession adapted to provide access to received messages from a pluralityof clients, said communications session adapted to enable simultaneousreal time and off line communications between said plurality of clients,said real time and off line communications not comprising any voicecommunication, said real time and off line communications not comprisingtext to speech applications, wherein said real time and off linecommunications comprises a plurality of frames, said plurality of framescomprising a message frame, an attachment frame, and a doodling frame,said session manager communicatively coupled to a repository, saidrepository adapted to store said simultaneous real time and off linecommunications, said session manager accessible in a real time and anoffline manner by said plurality of clients, said session manageradapted to update said repository in a real time fashion upon a receiptof messages from said plurality of clients, said session manager adaptedto continue said communication session without restarting when none ofsaid plurality of clients are online, said session manager adapted toprovide said plurality of clients with a representation of past activityof said communication session upon access to said communication session,said session manager adapted to obtain and cause storage of each instantmessaging alias and each client IP address of said plurality of client;authorized to communicate via said communication session.
 10. The methodof claim 9, wherein each client is authenticated prior to receiving oneor more messages from a client of said plurality of clients.
 11. Themethod of claim 9, wherein each client communicates via said pluralityof frames.
 12. The method of claim 9, wherein communications are storedin a web page format which is dynamically updated in a real time basis.13. A method comprising: via a session manager, providing access to acommunication session on a persistent basis, said session managercommunicatively coupled to a repository, said session manager adapted toobtain and cause storage of each instant messaging alias and each clientIP address of a plurality of clients authorized to communicate via saidcommunication session, said communication session receptive to bothonline and offline communications, said communication session notcomprising any voice communication, said communication session notcomprising text to speech applications, said session manager adapted toupdate communications within said communication session regardless of anonline or offline status of one or more of said plurality of clients,said session manager adapted to maintain said communication session inan always active configuration regardless of said online or offlinestatus of said plurality of clients, said session manager adapted tocontinue said communication session without restarting when none of saidplurality of clients are online, said session manager adapted to providesaid plurality of clients with a representation of past activity of saidcommunication session upon access to said communication session, saidsession manager adapted to provide said communication session via aplurality of frames, said plurality of frames comprising a messageframe, an attachment frame, and a doodling frame.
 14. The method ofclaim 13, further comprising: receiving communications from a client ofsaid plurality of clients.
 15. The method of claim 13, wherein at leastone of said plurality of frames comprises message attachments.
 16. Themethod of claim 13, wherein least one of said plurality of framescomprises a representation of a prior history of communications.
 17. Themethod of claim 13, wherein communications for offline participants areposted to said communication session as if an offline participant wasonline.
 18. The method of claim 13, wherein said communications sessionis provided via a persistent socket connection.
 19. The method of claim13, wherein communication session is associated with a persistent URL.20. A method comprising: via a session manager, providing access to acommunication session on a persistent basis, said session managercommunicatively coupled to a repository, said session manager adapted toobtain and cause storage of each instant messaging alias and each clientIP address of a plurality of clients authorized to communicate via saidcommunication session, said communication session adapted for one ormore online communications originating from at least one message senderand destined for at least one message recipient, said communicationsession not comprising any voice communication, said communicationsession not comprising a text to speech application, said sessionmanager adapted to allow said at least one message sender and said atleast one message recipient to independently access said communicationsession without said communication session restarting, said sessionmanager adapted to maintain said communication session in a staticcondition when no communications are received, said session manageradapted to update said communication session on a real-time basis whencommunications are received and said at least one message sender andsaid at least one message recipient are online, said session manageradapted to continue said communication session without restarting whenno sender and no recipient are online, said session manager adapted toprovide said at least one message sender and said at least one messagerecipient with a representation of past activity of said communicationsession upon access to said communication session.